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Solarian League Navy
The Solarian League Navy was the main naval force for the Solarian League. Ships of the SLN used the prefix SLNS. Its uniforms were white. ( ) History * 1410 PD - Commonly referred to as the 'Eridani Edict', Amendment Ninety-Seven of the Solarian League Constitution was adopted. That law was unilaterally enforced by the Solarian League Navy five timesit is even not certain, if the war in the begenning of seventeenth century and the war against the Farley's Crossing System were connected with enforcement of the Eridani Edict. (HH8, infodump) * circa 1600-1620 PD: ** the last war before 1921 PD the Battle Fleet was involved''three hunders years before the First Manticoran-Havenite War''; that war was waged on much smaller area than Manticoran-Havenite war, (HH8, infodump) ** last time before 1921 PD a Solarian warship was destroyed in combatin almost three centuries before the New Tuscany incident; quite contrary to informations concerning battle of Farley's Crossing and the last accident, when a Solarian heavy cruiser was defeated in open battle. (SI2) * after 1700 PD'''according to HH7 - approximately a little less than two centuries ago before beginning of twentieth century PD; according to SI2 - none of Battle Fleet's capital ships had fired a shot in anger in over two T-centuries; according to "The Universe of Honor Harrington" the last major war before 1901 PD occured before 1759 PD - The Solarian League fought a war against the Farley's Crossing System; during the Battle of Farley's Crossing mainly the Frontier Fleet was engaged. (HH7, infodump) * '''1831 PD - The last time before 1921 PD the Battle Fleet deployed anything larger than a squadron outside the borders of the Old Leaguein 1921 PD Task Force 496 was moved to the McIntosh System and than to the Madras Sector. (infodump) * 1862 PD - Captain Josef Byng was officially reprimanded and moved back on promotion lists as a result of harassment of Manticoran shipping and imprisonment Manticoran crews without trial. (SI2) * before circa 1868 PD - Last time before 1918 PD a Solarian heavy cruiser was defeated in open battleif SLN unit - very likely she belonged to the Frontier Fleet; nobody ever beaten four Solarian heavy cruisers at once, with a single vessel of any kind short of a dreadnought. (WS1) * 1921 PD: ** after severe battle the Frontier Fleet Maya Sector Detachment defeated ex-State Security Naval Forces task group hired by Manpower, when it tried to invade the Kingdom of Torch, (SI2) ** the New Tuscany incident occured, where the Frontieer Fleet Task Group 3021 was disabled by the RMN Tenth Fleet. (SI2) ** Battle of Spindle occured, where the Battle Fleet Task Force 496 was decisively defeated by the RMN Tenth Fleet. (HH12) Organization The Solarian League Navy was organized into two major branches: Battle Fleet (more prestigious, larger, better equipped), and Frontier Fleet (tasked with support of the Office of Frontier Security). (SI1, SI2, infodump) Command The commanding officer was the Chief of Naval Operations, who was in essence the main military administrator under the Minister of Defense. By long, iron-clad, tradition, actual command of the Solarian League Navy was divided into two: with a commander for both Battle Fleet and for Frontier Fleet. There was a Staff for each branch, including intelligence, operations and material divisions. Part of the Central Staffor the Ministry of Defence were the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Office of Operational Analysis and the Office of Ship Design. (WS1, SI2) Some senior officers constituted the Strategy Board, the body that issued strategy recommendations for CNO. ( ) Battle Fleet The Battle Fleet was, like most navies, composed of many types of ships from ships of the wall, to fast couriers, to a logistic train (repair, provisioning, ammunition, etc). They included a very large number of superdreadnoughts, dreadnoughts, and screening elements (battlecruisers, cruisers, destroyers, etc). Battle Fleet was the SLN's senior branch, so its commanding officers were entitled to precedence over those of the Frontier Fleet. This led to Battle Fleet having a deep contempt for Frontier Fleet and the Office of Frontier Security.As such, Battle Fleet rarely consulted with Frontier Fleet of its operations. Until 1921 PD, it had been over 90 T-years since Battle Fleet had deployed anything larger than a squadron outside the borders of the Old League.In 1921 PD, Fleet Admiral Sandra Crandall ran a training exercise in the McIntosh System (in the Talbott Cluster) for Battle Fleet, including a substantial logistic component from the Fleet Train, with over a hundred ships. ( ) Frontier Fleet The Frontier Fleet, on the whole, emphasized lighter units more suited to the 'policing' actions which were its primary responsibility, along with piracy suppression and support of the Solarian Gendarmerieas well as other bureaucratic institutions operating along the fringes of the League (infodump). The SLN had a higher percentage of light units than the RMN or the People's Navy, largely because of the preponderance of such units in the Frontier Fleet, though in absolute numbers, the Solarian League Navy was many many times larger than the RMN in every ship class. Reserve The Solarian League Navy maintained a very large mothball fleet as a reserve. The proportion of superdreadnoughts and dreadnoughts in that reserve was larger than that of the SLN on active service, and the smaller classes in reserve would have been insufficient to provide an adequate screen for the ships of the wall in the reserve, should all be activated at the same time. The planning expectation seems to have been that the excess of lighter units in Frontier Fleet would be used (despite mutual dislike and even hostility) as screen for the Battle Fleet wall. Self Defence Forces The Self Defence Forces of the Solarian League members technically were part of the SLN during war or state of emergency. The SDFs provided the bulk of the light forces required to prevent outbreaks of piracy in their own areas, and couyld be tasked by the SLN as the senior servicewith the "owning" government concurrence to extend their activities to neighbouring member systems without SDFs. Some SDFs were substantial, being as big as the RMN before king Roger III's development program. For instance, the Beowulf Self-Defence Force was responsible for the security of the Sigma Draconis terminus of the Manticore Wormhole Junction. The Beoulf Biological Survey was a part of the Beowulf SDF as well (SI2, infodump) Tactical organization Depending ultimately on size and subunit compostition, units of the Solarian League Navy would typically be commanded as follows: * Battle Fleet Task Forces were commanded by Fleet Admirals * Battle Fleet Battle Squadrons were commanded by Admirals * Frontier Fleet Battlecruiser Squadrons were commanded by Rear Admirals Recorded independent units: * Battle Fleet Task Force 496 * Battle Fleet Task Force 891 * Frontier Fleet Task Group 3021 * Madras Sector Detachment, Frontier Fleet * Maya Sector Detachment, Frontier Fleet Strength Before de facto war against the Star Empire of Manticore, begun in 1921 PD, the SLN was comprised of: * 2000 superdreadnoughts in full commission * 300 superdreadnoughts in the yards for regular overhaul and refit cycles * over 8000 superdreadnoughts in reserve * uncertain, but smaller number of dreadnoughts * over 40000 lighter shipsaccording to infodump - about four times the number of its ships of the wall (HH12) Duties The primary security duty of the SLN, at the beginning of twentieth century PD, were commerce protection, border security, piracy suppression, and colonial pacification. In the twenty century PD, nearly all of those tasks were very likely performed by lighter units of the Frontier Fleet, there being very few pirates inside the Old League boundaries where Battle Fleet operated, and there being no colonies there either. (WS1, SI1, SI2, infodump) :See also: the Office of Frontier Security Policies * The SLN had no equivalent of the RMN's policy of switching out senior officers to make sure their experience remains current. The senior officers of the SLN were almost all well over a century old, with habits of thought and views of what makes an effective military ship/fleet that were formed when they were in their thirties and forties (and which were formed in the institutional bosom of a fleet which hasn't been to war in centuries). (infodump) * All SLN Battle Fleet procurement decisions were made through the demands of three hundred years old doctrine, not the possibilities offered by new tech which had not yet been fitted into existing doctrineeg. the SLN didn't used as strong and long range missiles like ones at missile pods provided Monican Navy by Technodyne (SI2). (infodump) Fleet 2000 programme The Fleet 2000 programme was an initiative to modernize SLN hardware; it also had a very important public relations and appropriations purpose. The program was conceived by Battle Fleet (and later found support with Frontier Fleet) in response to the Haven-Manticore wars, which suggested that advances in naval hardware were being made outside the Solarian League. Fleet 2000 was essentially a PR campaign to ensure the public would demand more funding for the Navy, which, as always, was competing with other bureaucracies to increase its share of available funds. Normally, Frontier Fleet units, some of which were much more likely to actually see action, were more carefully refitted than were ships of the wall and battlecruisers assigned to the Central Reserve or to Battle Fleet. Nevertheless, Frontier Fleet, afraid all the new funding would go to Battle FleetWith films such as "Our Fighting Navy" and "The Men and Women of the Fleet", Battle Fleet was heavily involved in a PR campaign. frontier Fleet fired back with its own "On the Frontiers of Freedom" and "First to Respond" On the other hand, the Battle Fleet ships of the wall had been more recently updated by the Fleet 2000 programme than the Frontier Fleet's battlecruisersLikley, even the Nevada-class. In reality, the majority of the Fleet 2000 changes were purely cosmetic, making new bridge designs look like something out of an HD flick.The newer consoles were a non-trivial, but not extensive, improvement, providing more information and control than before. Fleet 2000 refits were also intended to accommodate "future" enhancements, and so were built on an improved modular conceptEg., the ''Nevada''-class battlecruisers. (SI1, SI2, infodump) Marines The Solarian Marines Corps served aboard Frontier Fleet and Battle Fleet ships, and recruitment for both the SLN and the SMC was done by SLN recruiting officersFor example, a battalion of the 887th Solarian Marines Regiment was assigned to the Maya Sector Detachment of Frontier Fleet (WS1).. Ship types and classes * ''Rampart''-class destroyers (SI2) * ''War Harvest''-class large destroyers (WS1) * ''Bridgeport'' class light cruisers (HH12) * ''Liberty''-class light cruisers (Jayne's) * ''Morrigan''-class light cruisers (WS2) * ''Mikasa''-class heavy cruisers (SI2) * ''Gladiator''-class heavy cruisers (HHA4, WS1) * ''Indefatigable''-class battlecruisers (SI1, SI2) * ''Nevada''-class battlecruisers (SI1, SI2) * ''Scientist''-class superdreadnoughts (HH12) * ''Vega''-class superdreadnoughts (HH12) Solarian platforms served in other navies also, eg. ships of wall and cruisers in the Erewhon Navy, light cruisers in the People's Navy, battlecruisers and probably other types in the Monican Navy as well as very likely in the Mesan Space NavyLight ships of which appeared in the Verdant Vista System (WS1). The usual Solarian League policy was to provide a downgraded 'export level' hardware fittment in ships supplied to other Navies, thus retaining a level of higher performance against any such ships which might come up against the SLN in future. Human resources * a hundred years old admirals * formal sepatation between the Battle Fleet and the Frontier Fleet personnel Problems * corrupted procurement * cronyism - First Families of Battle Fleet External links * David Weber's comments on infodump: ** the Battle of Farley's Crossing ** artificial divisions within the SLN ** effect of tight budgets ** what were the Solarian League Navy financial resources ** how is the Solarian League Navy organized ** status of the Solarian League Navy ** fighting the massive waves of the SLN * [http://stormfromtheshadows.com/art.htm Nevada-class battlecruiser scheme] References Category:Solarian League Category:Solarian League Navy